Author: Gary

I just got back from watching King Arthur.

I went through a phase where I read a lot about King Arthur and the search for the facts behind the myth. I also read all of “la Morte de Arthur” and “The Quest for the Holy Grail” where are both difficult reads.

This movie had nothing to do with either the legend of Arthur or even some of the supposed truth that might have spawned the legends. In fact, if you had changed the names of the characters in the movie, there is no way you would realize that the movie had anything to do with King Arthur.

Leave it to Jerry Bruckheimer.

Enough talking about school. I’m there 10 hours a day most days. I write about it becuase its takes up so much of my time. However, its not the only thing I have going on:

• I help Scott Kurtz manage advertising for PVP. I can really tell that the economy is picking up. We’re getting a lot more requests for advertising, and the summer is traditionally a slow time for it. Scott will also have a brand new online store for t-shirts and such up and running later this month.
• About 5 years ago, I help found a company (now) called SwiftKnowledge. We picked the absolute worst time in history to start a software company. The next several years were ones of extreme anxiety. Despite all the turmoil, everyone involved hung in there and stuck it out, and now the company is doing much, much better. They are on the verge of profitability. I do not, and have not, played a day to day role in the company, so its not as if I can take credit for their success, but its nice to have played some role and see them finally starting to kick ass. They just moved into new offices about a block from my house. That’s what spurred this mention.
• Jed correctly pointed out that the solution to y’= y is ke^x. I always forget the constant. e^x is a solution, but on the general solution.
• CPS is starting up in a week. It is looking to be about twice the size of last year’s camp. I’ll be lecturing here and there and helping out.

Two weeks into the summer term and all is going well. I almost aced my first physics test. I got one multiple choice question wrong because I misread the question. It said Y and I thought it said X. Oh well. Likewise, Biology is going fine. Just memorize a bunch of stuff and you can get through it fine.

The class that has given me the most fits is linear algebra. The class is 10 hours of lecture per week: 2 hours per day, 5 days per week. We had a mid term test today covering the first 2 weeks, and we pretty much have one every week now for the rest of the course.

I don’t have to take the class because I took it already at Macalester, but I figured I should take it because I forgot pretty much everything I originally learned. Because I’m just taking the class to learn and I already have credit for it, I’m taking it pass/fail. Its the second class I’ve ever taken like this. I’m getting out of the class what I intended to. I do have a much better understanding differential equations.

For those who don’t know what a differential equation is, its an equation that uses other equations as variables. For example, if you have a function y(x) and the derivative of the function y'(x), then a differential equation might be y` = y. (and for those of you who really care, the answer would be y=e^x, because its the only non-zero function whose derivative equals itself) The class is pretty practical as math classes go. Most of the uses of differential equations come from the sciences (heating, cooling, motion, population growth, etc)

Jed took this class last semester and said it was easy. I don’t know if its the 10 hour per week aspect to it or the professor, but its a lot harder than the other classes I’m taking. Solving differential equations is just a matter following an algorithm. Identify the type it is and then apply the technique. There are no proofs involved, just methods to solve problems.

As to the title of this post, I feel dirty because I’m doing only what I have to, to pass. I usually try to learn the subject rather than worry about the grade. If you do the former, the later will come along naturally. However, given how they cram everything into six weeks in the summer, I have to make trade offs. The choice I have to make is pretty easy: focus on the foundation classes that matter and will count for a grade. I don’t see myself taking many more classes pass/fail, but for this class, this term, its probably the best decision.

I’ll cleanse myself of this feeling in the fall when I take number theory/cryptography.

Props goes out to Mike Bietz and his debaters at Edina, John McNeil and Jed Glickstein, who won the National Tournament of Champsions and the NFL National Tournament this year in LD. Its the first time any school has won both tournaments in the same year in LD.

I’ve been around the activity for a long time now, and being part of a national championship is something that not everyone gets to do, either as a coach or as participant. When I went to Mac, they had just come off of winning two straight CEDA National Tournaments. I came close to being in finals my Junior year, but didn’t quite do it.

Its one of those things that if you can do it even once in your life, its something you can always look back on with pride, and if you never do it, its something which will probably always nag at you for the rest of your life.

Eastview also won both Foreign and Domestic Extemp at NFL Nationals, which is really impressive. Its nice to have a yardstick of local talent you can use to measure yourself by. If we can compete locally, we should have no problem on the national level.

Its 4:30pm, I’m sitting in the medical tower at the University of Minnesota. The biology class has a lecture hall in here. Its by FAR the largest class I’ve ever had, student-wise. There aren’t many biology classes on the Minneapolis campus, so if I want to take more in the future, it will be a pain in the ass.

My differential equations class is one of the more intense classes I’ve taken. 2 hours of lecture 5 days a week, and the lectures are boom-boom-boom. We have a midterm every week but 2 of this term, which gives you an idea of how much they cram into a month and a half. I’m sticking with the pass/fail option. There is no sense breaking my ass on a class I’m just taking for review and don’t even need to take.

I’m really tired. On tuesdays, my first class is at 9:00am and my last one gets out at 8:30pm. The books are killing my back. I’m officially giving up on carrying all of my textbooks except differential equations.

My biology class is also 80% female. The instructor is female. The imbalance between men and women in the natural vs life sciences is amazing. The one exception seems to be astronomy, where I’ve noticed more women than in straight physics or math.

There are a lot of fat people that work in the medical school. Go figure.

I also hate labs. I learn nothing. Unless they are lying to us in lecture and we are supposed to catch it in lab, its useless. They should have a non-lab version of some classes for those who don’t need the lab requirment.

I need to find a place on campus that is not the union to kill time between 12:05 and 5:00. My ass hurts. I got a parking pass now so I’ll probably leave campus for a bit and get a haircut or something.